Chapter 7: A New Generation of Global Leaders: Turning Global Citizens Into Global Stewards

Increasingly within the educational realm, the call for an internationalized curriculum that fosters the development of global citizens who are able to embrace multicultural concepts, interact within a global community, and have the capacity for an awareness of their own identity within a global construct is finding its way into mission statements and university vision statements in the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom (Lilley et al., 2015). Simply providing students with awareness without the motivation to act ethically, become a catalyst for change, or who lack empathy does little more than prepare educated bystanders. As there is no consistent mechanism to address this gap in the current curriculum, the authors conducted a study that introduced a self-reflective predeparture short course that was inclusive of concepts related to diversity and inclusion, social justice, and the development of one’s cultural competencies. The resulting curriculum and pedagogical recommendations have been developed as a result of the experiences of the researchers in this study to aid and assist students in providing a framework they can use to more effectively process their experiences abroad. Additionally, when we create students who are cognizant of the core conceptual dimensions of global citizenship education, as expressed in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization publication, Global Citizenship Education (2015), their views toward both the practice and the process of their actions will reflect their commitment to sustainable development as noted in Goal 16 regardless of program, profession, or position in which they find themselves in the future. Goal 16’s focus is to “promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels” (United Nations [UN], 2018, p. 21). The authors found that students who participated in the predeparture course modules carried it with them into their study abroad experience, were significantly impacted by the content, and were more culturally conscious as they processed their study abroad experiences, thus increasing their awareness of the constructs of interdependent and interconnected global citizenship.